It has joined forces with DeNA - a mobile games designer - with the intention of making smartphone games featuring its iconic characters.

This could mean much-loved titles like Zelda and Mario make appearances on the iPhone.

However, this does not mean games will simply be ported over in their original form.

"To ensure the quality of game experience that consumers expect from this alliance of Nintendo and DeNA, only new original games optimized for smart device functionality will be created, rather than porting games created specifically for the Wii U home console or the Nintendo 3DS portable system," DeNA said in a statement.

Nintendo has bought a 10% state in DeNA, whilst the smaller company has purchased a comparatively piddling 1.24% of Nintendo.